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Emergence

When electrons or atoms or people interact, the behavior of the whole is different from that of its parts. We call that collective behavior emergent. Emergence thus refers to collective phenomena or behaviors in complex systems that do not exist in their individual parts; gateways to emergence are the regularities that characterize emergent behavior and the organizing principles that may be able to explain it.

In both science and society, developing an emergent perspective means a focus on identifying gateways to emergent system behavior. Because emerging global challenges have no unique cause, there can be no unique or even "best" response. An emergent strategy to address these therefore involves pursuing simultaneously many different partial solutions, with a focus on connections and synergies among these that can accelerate progress and lead to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.